Abstract
In a recent global competitiveness report by the IMF, the four Nordic countries all ranked in top ten, attesting to the region’s growing attractiveness as a host location for MNCs. This paper investigates the driving forces determining foreign direct investment flows into Scandinavia. We use a panel data set covering FDI inflows to Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland for the period 1979-2000. Results suggest that, in addition to traditional determinants of FDI, technological advantages of the region are of particular importance for foreign investors. Thus, evidence is provided for the changing pattern of international production indicating strategic needs for MNCs to acquire assets and technology that are specific to particular locations.

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Over the past decade, European businesses have accelerated internationalization, expanding within and beyond Europe. I argue that a major driving force behind this push towards global presence is the restructuring of corporate diversification strategies, which in turn is a result of gradual changes in industry structure and the institutional environment in home markets as well as global markets. The strategic change converts diversified conglomerates to global specialists in narrower niche markets. It brings them in direct confrontation with a small number of key competitors operating worldwide. On this stage, key competitive advantages are gained by making best use of resources across the world, and by effective global integration of operations. Hence de-diversification and internationalization are opposite sides of the same coin: globalfocusing. The argument is developed based on inductive case research of the restructuring in two Danish manufacturing enterprises, and a review of overall trends in Danish businesses. On this basis, I analyze the economic and institutional forces driving this process, and suggest propositions for empirical testing. The paper points to consequences of liberalization, and is thus of high relevance for managers and policy makers in countries that are not yet as open as Denmark.

Analyzing the internationalization of large companies from small countries requires understanding the process of internationalization by examining the interface between micro (firm strategies) and macro (the forces of centripetal and centrifugal) level factors. We examine the growth and international expansion of the ten largest companies in Denmark, Finland, and Norway over the period 1990 to 1999. Most companies in the sample became more international during the last decade across basically all the investigated dimensions of internationalization. This was particularly accentuated in the case of Norwegian firms, possibly due to their lower degree of internationalization at the beginning of the period. The study also shows that companies mainly have internationalized their operations activities, while such strategic activities as research and development activities and headquarters functions to a much larger extent are kept in the home country.